Explosion oil-engine.



I. IVI. THORP.

EXPLOSION OIL ENGINE.

APPLlcATloN FILED APa.9.191.

Patented Nov.. 27, 191% INVENTOR.

. L r .nl

- oil in engines of moderate compression pres.

` thus obtained.

if man straus arrastre onion. i

JAMES MADISON THOR?, OF ALAIMEDA; CALIFORNIA.

EXPLOSION OIL-ENGINE.

THORP, a citizen of the United States, ref

siding at Alameda, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Explosion Oil-Engines, of which the following is a specification.I

My invention relates to explosion engines using heavyl oil for fuel, and the objects of my invention are to utilize low-grade fuel sures and to obtain high speed in the engine while operating on such fuel.

Methods of combustion employed hereto. fore in low-grade-oil engines produce slow piston speed because of slow burning of the uel, the oil injected into the compressed air in the cylinder will not gasify rapidly enough to cause explosion of the charge. An engine to run at high speed must be operated on fuel that will explode, rather than a slow burning fuel. And since low 'grade fuel oils in high speed engines will not gasify during the time allowed between injection of the fuel and ignition of the charge such fuel then must be gasied before it enters the combustion chamber.

" Therefore' another object vof the invention is to provide a method whereby `'such fuel may have a time equal-to one or morecomplete cycles of the engine to be converted into gas, then to allow the gas thus produced to enter the combustion chamber and mix with4 the-air being compressed by the piston, then to ignite an explode the combustible charge With these and other objects in view l will proceed to describe a method and ,ap-

aratus embodying my invention, referencev ein had to. the accompanyingdrawings, in w ich similar characters of reference denote similar parts throughout the several views.

-Figure 1 is a vertical section of the engine throu h C D ofv Fig.2; Fig. 2 a cross section t rough A B of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3

a diagram showing positions of the valve movements relative to the piston stroke, the arrow shows direction of crank rotation.

The c linder E and piston F are that of the Ordinary two-stroke cycle engine, the

'invention lies wholly in the arrangements in and upon the cylinder head, where ll have shown a water-cooled cylinder h ead 1, nclosing a retort la, composed of a coms Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2'?, 191'?.

Application led April 9', 1917. Serial No. 160,784.

paratively long passage with the conical rotary valve 2 connecting alternately with either end of the passage as at 3 and 4 respectlvely. 5 and 6 are' nozzles to supply the retort with oil fuel and water. 7 is a shaft ordinarily gearedl to the engine crankshaft and is designed to operate the gear 8 and through the gears 9 and 10 to rotate the valve 2; 11 is the usual spark plug which reaches through to the combustion chamber of the cylinder, the spark gap is at 12. The valve 2 is provided with water-cooling space which communicates with the cylinder head water through the ports 13 Fig. 1 andas shown in dotted lines 13 14C in Fig. 2. Other and obvious parts usually applied to engines of this character are omitted in the drawing.

lln operation: Assuming the engine to have received its initial charge which has been exploded and the piston started on the power stroke to the position 15 Figs. 1 andlB, at which point the valve 2 begins to open, going through the movement of opening and closing while `the piston travels from 15 to 16 in the diaopen at port S'between the cylinder and the retort allowing a portion of the hot burnt gases to enter the retort, compressing the contents thereof toward 'the opposite end of the passage, then as the cylinder gases are` expanding on the power stroke the retort contents will expand also and gradually force a portion back into the cylinder, equalizing the pressure until the valve cuts OE communication at piston position 16, after which the fuel and water is injected into the retort through the nozzles, 5 and-6 respectively, by means of the usual injector pump, not shown.v The piston continues its cycle including the power stroke to the point of exhaust, air intake and the compression stroke to the point 17 in the diagram where the'valve begins to open the port 4: at the other end of theretort passage, opening and closing while the piston moves from 1'?VV to. Y.

'18, during which time a portion of the retort contents, composed of the oil, water andi burnt gases, and now completely gasified, will eject itself from the retort into the air being compressed in the cylinder and com- ,ing a churningeffect that as indicated in the diagram, causing explosion of the charge with the usual rise in pressure and temperature, and another cycle begins as described above.

During the operation of gas injection into the cylinder, as described, it will be noted that at the opening of the Valve at piston position 17 in the diagram, the air pressure is constantly rising while the higher retort pressure is suddenly released into theair, the two being equalized by the time the valve is full open, then as the compression pressure continues to rise some of the gas and airwill be forced back into the retort, until the valve closes at 18, causreaches throughout the retort passage. had at the opposite end of the passage by the entrance and back flow of the burnt gases, this churning greatly assists in breaking up the gas constituents.

It will be Seen that this method allows time equal to more than one lcycle of the engine to gasify the fuel, a small quantity of fuel and burnt gas entering one end of the retort, being gradually forced toward the therefore I do not confine mysel opposite end, as shown by the arrows, gasify-4 ing as it travels through the long passage and finally ejecting a portion of the re tort contents "from the other end at each cycle of the engine.

It will be noted' also, that the gas charge enters the cylinder at about three-fourth compression stroke when the compressing air is comparatively hot, thus avoiding condensation of the as. f

I have shown t e invention as applied to a two-stroke cycle engine, I do not, however, confine myself to -engines of any partlcular cycle, as the method is applicable to practically all engines, working on the internal combustion principle,

change in the invention, timingof the valve -to suit the cycle being the only change necessary. ,t I lprefer to inject the `fuel at the time 1n t e cycle described, the time may be varied considerable, ducing the eiiiciency' of the method.

I have also described the method as using water with the fuel, yet I do not confine myself to its use. Although water or steam- 1s found to be beneficial it is not absolutely necessary to the working of the method. It 1s further obvious that changes may be made in the mechanism without departing from the spirit of the invention, such for example, as substituting two puppet valves for the one rotary valve shown, and by changing the shape of the retort assage,

fpto the exact construction herein shown.

4With this method the amount of air taken cycle is constant, the regulatlonv belng accomplished by vary- The same effect is without 4 however, without re# ing the fuel supply together with variable spark timing. However, in engines designed for great flexibility in speed and load the valvetime may be varied also, for example, assuming that the fuel has been cut down to a minimum, now if this small quantity of gas were admitted to the cylinder very early in the compression stroke so that it would have timeto thoroughly mix with the. full charge of air, such mixture would be too poor to explode, on the other hand to retard the valve time so that the gas enters near the end of the compression stroke it will then-before being fired-have time only to mix with the air 80 nearest the inlet, that is, a smaller quantity of air, leaving the mixture much richer and explodable giving a full strength explosion of small volume.

In engines designed to use a more volatile fuel the retortwpassage may be shortened'so that the fuel may have a time equal to only one cycle, or less, of the engine to gasify.

Having thus clearly described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isf l. In an explosion engine, the method of gasifying fuel, consisting of injecting fuel into a retort, then allowing a part of the products of combustion in an engine cylinder to enter one end of the passage of said retort, then closing'said end of the passage, then opening the other end of said retort passage and allowing some of the gasified contents of the retort to enter said cylinder during compression of the air therein, whereby said gasified fuel is commingled with said air to form an explosive char e.

2. In an ex losion engine, the metho of gasifying fue consisting of allowing some of the products of combustion in an engine cylinder to enter one end of a retort, then closing said end of the retort, thenM injecting fuel into said retort, then opening the other end of the retort and allowing some of the gasified contents of said retort to enter and carburize a charge of air b e. ing compressed in said cylinder, then ignit-v ling said carburized charge.

3.v In. an explosionl engine, the method of gasifying fuel, consisting of allowing some of the roducts of combustion 1n an engine cyllnder to enter one end ofa retort, then closing said end of the retort, then 1n- 12 0 j ecting fuel oil and water or steam into the retort, then opening the other 'end of the retort to allow a portion of the contents thereof to enter and carburize a charge of air in said cylinder.

4. In an explosion engine, the method of gasifying fuel, where a portion of the burnt gas in an engine cylinder is forced into a retort passage at one end thereof, fuel 1njected into said retort at or near said end, 130

` the irst portion of burnt gas and fuel is Lernens.

then repeating the foregoing steps so that forced along said passage by the second portion of burnt gas whereby said irst portion remains in the retort for a time longer than one cycle of the engine, then allowing said irst portion of fuel and burnt gas to be ejected into the cylinder to carburize the charge of air compresse@ therein.

5. ln an explosion englne, a retort 1n the cylinder heacl, consisting of a long passage or conduit With valved ends communicating With the engine cylinder, means for opening anol closing one end of said. passage during the power stroke of the engine, means for injecting Jfuel into the retort, and means for opening and closing the other encl of the retort during the compression stroke, for the purpose speeiiied.

l J. MADSN THRP.. 

